Eclipse Web Tools Project DRAFT 1.5 Plan

Please send comments about this draft plan to the wtp-pmc@eclipse.org mailing list.

This document lays out the feature and API set for the next feature release of Eclipse Web Tools after 1.0, designated release 1.5.
This document is a draft and is subject to change, we welcome all feedback.

Web Tools 1.5 will be compatible with Eclipse 3.2 Releases.

Plans do not materialize out of nowhere, nor are they entirely static. To ensure the planning process is transparent and open to the entire Eclipse community, we (the Eclipse Web Tools Requirement Group & the Web Tools PMC) post plans in an embryonic form and revise them throughout the release cycle.

The first part of the plan deals with the important matters of release deliverables, release milestones, target operating environments, and release-to-release compatibility. These are all things that need to be clear for any release, even if no features were to change.

The remainder of the plan consists of plan items for the two subprojects under the Eclipse Web Tools top-level project. The third subproject, JSF is not covered by this plan, as it is a technology project in the incubator state. Each plan item covers a feature or API that is to be added to Web Tools, or some aspect of Web Tools that is to be improved. Each plan item will have its own entry in the Eclipse bugzilla database, with a title and a concise summary (usually a single paragraph) that explains the work item at a suitably high enough level so that everyone can readily understand what the work item is without having to understand the nitty-gritty detail.

Not all plan items represent the same amount of work; some may be quite large, others, quite small. Some plan items may involve work that is localized to a single Platform component; others may involve coordinated changes to several components; other may pervade the entire Platform. Although some plan items are for work that is more pressing that others, the plan items appear in no particular order.

With the previous release as the starting point, this is the plan for how we will enhance and improve it. Fixing bugs, improving test coverage, documentation, examples, performance tuning, usability, etc. are considered routine ongoing maintenance activities and are not included in this plan unless they would also involve a significant change to the API or feature set, or involve a significant amount of work. The intent of the plan is to account for all interesting feature work.

The current status of each plan item is noted:

High Priority plan item - A high priority plan item is one that we have decided to address for the release (committed).

Medium Priority plan item - A medium priority plan item is one that we are considering addressing for the release.
Although we are actively investigating it, we are not yet in a position to commit to it, or to say that we won't be able to address it.

Low Priority plan item – A low priority plan item is one that we addressed for a release we will only address that item if one
component has addressed all high and medium priority items

Deferred plan item - A reasonable proposal that will not make it in to this release for some reason is marked as deferred with
a brief note as to why it was deferred. Deferred plan items may resurface as committed plan items at a later point.

Release deliverables

The release deliverables have the same form as previous releases, namely:

In addition, the Eclipse WTP runtime binary and SDK will be available as part of the "Callisto" update site.

Release milestones and release candidates

Release milestone occurring at roughly 6 week intervals in synchronisation with the Eclipse Platform milestone releases (starting
early 2006 latest) and will be compatible with Eclipse 3.2 releases. See Callisto Simultaneous Release for the Eclipse Platform schedule.

Target Operating Environments

Eclipse WTP is built on the Eclipse platform itself.

Most of the Eclipse WTP is "pure" Java™ code and has no direct dependence on the underlying operating system. The chief dependence is therefore on Eclipse. The 1.5 release of the Eclipse WTP Project is written and compiled against version 1.4 of the Java 2 Platform APIs, and targeted to run on version 1.4 and 5.0 (1.5) of the Java 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition.

Eclipse WTP is mainly tested and validated on Windows platforms, it should run on all platforms validated by the platform project:

Servers integrated into Eclipse WTP deliverables will be tested and validated on the same platforms listed above. Tests for other platforms will be relying on the community support.

Internationalization

The Eclipse WTP is designed as the basis for internationalized products. The user interface elements provided by the Eclipse SDK components, including dialogs and error messages, are externalized. The English strings are provided as the default resource bundles. Other language support, if any, will rely on the community support.

Compatibility with Other WTP Releases

Project Compatibility:

Full compatibility with 1.0 projects

TBD

Eclipse WTP deliverables will be compatible with Eclipse 3.2. No special attention will give for being compatible with previous Eclipse versions.

Eclipse WTP Subprojects

The Eclipse WTP consists of 3 subprojects. Each subproject is covered in its own section:

For the WST and JST subprojects items are listed, JSF is not covered as it currently is a technology project
(in incubator state), the items listed reflect new features of the Web Tools Platform, or areas where existing
features will be significantly reworked. Common goals are listed in the “Common goals” area.

TBD (Each item indicates the components likely affected by that work item (many items involve coordinated changes to several components). Numbers in parentheses link to bugzilla problem reports for that plan item)

Note that JSF and EJB (currently incubating in the technology project) will be present in WTP 1.5 in "provisional" status - APIs in these areas will be provisional, and the release number for these two areas of functionality should be considered "0.5" rather than the overall WTP release numbering of "1.5.". Users should expect API and tool refinements in these areas, with a likelihood for more rapid (and extensive) revisions than in the base WTP code.